MLB Power Rankings: Week 11

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By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

MLB Power Rankings Week 11

1.) St Louis Cardinals (44-25) – The Cardinals are once again in the top spot for the Power Rankings, as they have established themselves as the best team in baseball with a run differential of a plus 102. Their hitting has been great and their pitching has been great, and they look like the most complete team in baseball.

2.) Cincinnati Reds (42-28) – The Reds would be in first place in any other division in baseball, but unfortunately for them they have the Cardinals in theirs. Jay Bruce is getting hot, which may help the Reds get closer to first place in the NL Central.

3.) Pittsburgh Pirates (41-28) – Gerrit Cole made his much anticipated debut this week, and is (2-0) now this season, but A.J. Burnett torn his calf muscle, so the Pirates will need Cole to continue pitching well if they want to be in the mix in the NL Central.

4.) Oakland Athletics (42-29) – Josh Donaldson continues his awesome start to the season, as he is leading the Athletics in batting average and RBIs. Bartolo Colon is looking like a Cy Young pitcher this season, with nine wins, and a 2.89 ERA.

5.) Boston Red Sox (42-29) – The Red Sox are still in first place in what is probably the toughest division in baseball, but the hot start from Jon Lester has ended it seems, as his ERA is now over four, and he hasn’t won a game in six starts.

6.) Atlanta Braves (41-28) – Jason Heyward has seen is average rise up the .200 mark finally, which is much needed for the Braves offense, as B.J. Upton is still struggling to hit the ball batting only .167.

7.) Baltimore Orioles (40-30) – A (5-2) week has the Orioles only 1.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East now. Manny Machado has a 14-game hitting streak, and Chris Davis leads the majors with 23 home runs, as this Orioles lineup is very good.

8.) Detroit Tigers (38-29) – The ninth inning is the biggest thing holding the Tigers back from possible being the best team in the American League. Joaquin Benoit got the save on Sunday, as Jose Valverde's days as the Tigers Closer might be over.

9. ) New York Yankees (38-31) – Mark Teixeira hurt is wrist again, and may have to be heading to the DL, which will hurt a Yankee lineup that cant score. A tough West Coast trip is finally over for the Yankees, and they will look to get it together back in New York.

10.) Texas Rangers (38-31) – A six-game losing streak has cost the Rangers first place in the AL West. They will hope the return of Ian Kinsler will help a lineup that only more than two runs in a game once this week.

11.) Arizona Diamondbacks (37-32) – A tough week for Diamondbacks set-up man David Hernandez, as he two losses this week against the Dodgers and Padres. Patrick Corban will looking to make it 10-0 on Monday against the Marlins.

12.) Colorado Rockies (37-33) – Troy Tulowitzki is going to be out for four to six weeks, which is certainly going to hurt the Rockies for the next month or so, as he was having an MVP caliber season so far.

13.) San Diego Padres (35-34) – A six game winning streak at home against the Braves and Diamondbacks have the Padres right in the thick of things in the NL West. Closer Houston Street also made his return from the DL, which should help out the bullpen.

14.) Tampa Bay Rays (36-33) – Top hitting prospect Wil Meyers is on his way to the majors to help a lineup that has been surprisingly good thus far. Alex Cobb was hit in the head on a line drive by Eric Hosmer, and luckily has been released from the hospital, but his return is unknown.

15.) San Francisco Giants (35-33) – Starting Pitching has been the backbone of the Giants for the last number of years, but this year its their Achilles heel. Tim Linecum and Barry Zito have been awful of late, and if it wasn’t for the offense hitting so well the Giants would be in big trouble.

16.) Kansas City Royals (33-34) – The offense is showing signs of coming alive for the Royals in their weekend series against the Rays, as they were able to score 25 runs in four games. The pitching has been excellent for the Royals, so if the bats can do a little something the Royals should be over .500 very soon.

17.) Cleveland Indians (34-34) – Cleveland was able to snap their eight game losing streak on Tuesday this past week with a win over the Rangers. They also one the series in Texas, and won the series at home against the Nationals, for what was a much needed good week for the Indians.

18.) Washington Nationals (34-34) – Stephen Strasburg made his return from the DL on Sunday against the Indians, and pitched very well only allowing one run, but the Nationals were shutout, and Strasburg got his sixth loss of the season.

19.) Toronto Blue Jays (32-36) – The Blue Jays are coming on hot with a five-game winning streak, which included sweeping the Rangers in Texas. In a lineup stacked with big names Adam Lind is the one standing out hitting .350 with eight homeruns this season.

20.) Minnesota Twins (30-36) – The Twins had a (3-3) week, which for a team lacking talent isn’t bad. Only Josh Willingham has double-digit homeruns for the Twins, but he is also only batting .211 on the season.

21.) Philadelphia Phillies (33-37) – Cole Hamels picked up his 10^th loss already of the season, as he isn’t pitching up to his normal, but in his last 10 starts the Phillies have only scored 27 runs for him, which just simply isn’t enough to get Hamels wins.

22.) Seattle Mariners (31-39) – Hisashi Iwakuma's scoreless innings streak came to an end in the Mariners blowout loss to the Athletics on Sunday, but a (4-2) week with series wins over the A's and Astros is good for the Mariners.

23.) Los Angeles Angels (30-39) – The Angels were able to get a nice series win over the Yankees on the weekend, which is something they certainly needed. A four-game home series against the Mariners will be important this coming week if the Angels want to get back to .500

24.) Los Angeles Dodgers (29-39) – The spark that Yasiel Puig gave to the Dodgers last week has seemingly worn of, and another brawl didn’t seem to be able to catapult them to get any sort of roll going, and it is looking like the Dodgers are just a bad team right now.

25.) Milwaukee Brewers (28-40) – The Brewers on in last place in the NL Central, and had to send their best player in Ryan Braun to the DL with a thumb injury, and easy schedule this week will come in handy for the Brewers without Braun however.

26.) Chicago Cubs (28-39) - The struggles of the once dominant Carlos Marmol have cost the Cubs a lot this year, and allowing a walk-off three-run homerun to the Mets on Sunday cost the Cubs a sweep, and sent Marmol's ERA to over six.

27.) Houston Astros (26-44) – Houston is certainly surprising a lot of people this year, as coming into the season many thought they would be one of the worst teams of all-time, but they are currently on a four-game winning streak, and have a six-game winning not to long ago.

28.) Chicago White Sox (28-38) – The White Sox look to be a team that will be sellers at the trade deadline, as the losses are starting to mount in Chicago. They were swept by the Astros this past weekend, which has to be the low point of their season.

29.) Miami Marlins (21-47) – Miami has their slugger Giancarlo Stanton back in the lineup after a hamstring injury, and were able to take two out of three at home against the Cardinals which is an impressive series victory.

30.) New York Mets (25-39) – The Mets have been in a tail spin since sweeping the Yankees losing 10 of their last 13 games, but they will hope top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler can live up to the hype on Tuesday, and give the team a much needed spark.